A convicted serial rapist already serving a 1,703-year prison term was found not guilty late Thursday of the rape of a 17-year-old girl.
District Attorney Doug Valeska said a jury acquitted 25-year-old Michael Handsford of a felony first-degree rape charge.
Dothan police investigators arrested Handsford in September 2009. Valeska argued Handsford raped the 17-year-old girl on Jan. 31, 2009. He has already been convicted in sexual assaults on four other women.
“He’s serving 1,703 years for the other four victims we’ve tried already,” Valeska said. “The reason we tried this case was because the victim was 17 years old. Hopefully he gets what’s called a pine box parole, and he’ll die there in prison. He’s just a serial rapist.”
Valeska said nine similar felony charges remaining against Handsford were dismissed.
“I’m not going to put any more victims through a trial when he’s already got 1,703 years in prison,” Valeska said.
Valeska said a DNA expert from the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences testified for the prosecution about how there was a DNA match between Handsford and the alleged victim in the rape case.
Dothan police originally charged Handsford with more than two dozen sexual assault-related crimes, including kidnapping, robbery and burglary. He was charged with sexually assaulting eight Wiregrass women during a two-year period.
He’s also been convicted of an armed robbery of a Dothan Subway restaurant, for which he received a 20-year prison sentence.
Handsford was represented in court by attorney Ben Freeman, but he could not be reached for comment.
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